Report finds ‘worrisome’ levels of lead, arsenic in some baby foods
A new analysis of packaged baby foods suggests that parents may want to limit their babies’ intake of rice cereal and sweet potatoes — or at least to rotate them with other foods — to reduce their risk of exposure to heavy metals.
“One of the takeaways is that parents and families should take a balanced approach on the types of food they give to kids,” said James Dickerson, Consumer Reports’ chief scientific officer. “For those foods that have elevated amounts of heavy elements, moderate or reduce the amount you end up feeding your children and think about this as a long-term issue.”
Infant rice cereal and mashed sweet potatoes are usually two of the first solid foods parents give to their babies because they’re bland and easy to digest.
Public health experts and consumer watchdog groups have become increasingly concerned about the high amounts of naturally occurring arsenic in rice in recent years, especially as many people increase their consumption of rice products to avoid gluten. This is the first time Consumer Reports also tested baby foods for lead, cadmium and mercury, which — along with arsenic — are associated with impeded cognitive development and other health risks, especially in very young children.
In its analysis of 50 packaged baby and toddler foods, Consumer Reports found that 68 percent showed “worrisome” levels of at least one heavy metal and 15 products that would pose a “potential health risk” if eaten on a daily basis — meaning they would increase the child’s risk of cancer. However, the report stressed that parents shouldn’t worry if they have already fed their children some of the foods in the report because the risk can be offset by limiting those foods now.
Consumer Reports found heavy metals in products not just containing rice and sweet potatoes but also other fruits, vegetables and grains; several were snacks or “puffs” containing rice flour. Because heavy metals naturally occur in the soil, organic products didn’t fare better than conventional products — in fact, nine out of the 15 products Consumer Reports found with the highest levels of heavy metals were organic.
“We are a responsible company with high safety standards for our ingredients and our products,” said Sprout, one of the baby food companies, in a statement to Consumer Reports. “We are continuing to work with the fruit and vegetable industry to look for the cleanest source of ingredients.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides only guidance to food manufacturers on levels of heavy metals, not strict rules. It recommends that candy types popular with children should have no more than 0.1 parts per million of lead, for example. In 2016 the FDA proposed setting a similar limit for what’s called inorganic arsenic — the kind that poses the most harm to humans — in rice cereal, but that guidance has yet to be finalized.
“There needs to be enforceable standards for the amount of lead and other heavy metals allowable in food meant for children’s consumption,” said Dr. Mark Miller, co-director of the Western States Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit at University of California San Francisco, who was not involved with the report.
The FDA had less concerning results than Consumer Reports when it did its own testing of baby and toddler foods. In 2016, it found 47 percent of the baby and toddler foods it tested were at or below its suggested limit for arsenic and concluded that lead and cadmium levels were relatively low and “not likely to cause a human health concern.”
Miller disagreed with Consumer Reports’ suggestion that parents who are concerned about heavy metals in their children's food request a blood test for their children, which he said is more appropriate for acute exposure. It’s best to just focus on varying the diet instead.
“The American Academy of Pediatrics and others don’t specifically identify rice cereal as a key need,” he said. “Either avoiding it or at least using multigrain, barley or other cereal options as well as rice cereal in infants is a good option.”
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